Two Jharkhand police officers suspected of spying on former Chief Minister Champai Soren in the national capital were questioned by the Delhi police, officials said on Wednesday. According to Delhi police sources, the two sub-inspectors were staying at a five-star hotel in the city for the past few days and were taken to the Chanakyapuri police station for questioning.
“They were later allowed to go. The two officers told the police that they had come to Delhi on routine duty,” a senior Delhi police officer said.
Earlier in the day, BJP leader and Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma, who is also the party’s in-charge for the Assembly elections in Jharkhand, alleged that Mr. Champai Soren had been under the “surveillance of his own government”.
Amid the allegations levelled against the Hemant Soren government, Mr. Champai Soren returned to Ranchi from New Delhi and resigned from the primary membership and all posts of the Jharkhand Mukti Morcha (JMM) later in the evening. “Aggrieved by the JMM’s present style of functioning, I am forced to quit,” he said in a letter to party chief Shibu Soren that he also posted on X.
FIR registered
Addressing a press conference in Guwahati, Mr. Sarma said two sub-inspectors of the Special Branch of the Jharkhand police were nabbed by the Delhi police officials and an FIR had been registered following a complaint by Mr. Champai Soren. However, the senior officer told The Hindu that no case had been filed so far. Attempts to reach out to Mr. Champai Soren for comment failed to elicit any response.
“Champai Soren was put under surveillance even before he was in talks with the BJP,” Mr. Sarma said, referring to the former Jharkhand Chief Minister’s announcement of joining the BJP on August 30.
The Assam Chief Minister claimed that the two officers admitted that the Special Branch chief, Inspector General Prabhat Kumar, had put them on duty to “track” Mr. Champai Soren.
JMM spokesperson Manoj Pandey told The Hindu, “These allegations are baseless. If at all the Special Branch officers have been nabbed, it may be because of some other reason...they may have been deputed for Champai Sorenji’s security because he was still a Cabinet Minister until he resigned. Let me remind Himanta Biswa Sarma that when the BJP was in power in Jharkhand, then Cabinet Minister Saryu Roy had accused his own government of tapping his phone.”
(With inputs from PTI)
Published - August 28, 2024 05:05 pm IST